REVIEW. ENDANGERED ALPHABETS: AN ESSAY ON WRITING by TIM BROOKES (2016)

The very idea of the book is astonishing. There are about 130-150 alphabets in the world, told me TIM BROOKES a bit earlier in our interview, which You can read here.

The book consists of about 220 pages with texts about alphabets and their samples carved in wood by the author.

ENDANGERED ALPHABETS: AN ESSAY ON WRITING is dedicated to King Ibrahim Njoya of the Bamum Kingdom in Cameroon.

One could wonder why? King Ibrahim Mbouombouo Njoya (1860–1933) was 17th in a long dynasty of kings that ruled over Bamum and its people in western Cameroon dating back to the 14th century. He had not only 600 wives and 149 (or 177) children. Njoya's mother, Njapdunke, initially acted as regent until he reached majority. His own official rule was further delayed because his father's head was held by an old adversary, the Nso people. By tradition the head or skull of an ancestor is of ceremonial importance to the Bamum.

Ibrahim Njoya is credited with developing the Bamum script, a syllabic system for writing in the Bamum language. Prior to his reign at the end of the 19th century, the long history of the Bamum people was preserved primarily through oral transmission from one generation to the next in the manner of the African Griot tradition. (This was largely true of many other African civilizations of the time.)

Recognizing the inherent danger of important historical facts being omitted or corrupted, he set out to establish a means of written recording of Bamum history. When his work was completed, his alphabet, called, A-ka-u-ku, contained 73 signs.

His grandson, Ibrahim Mbombo Njoya, a present-day Sultan in Cameroon and the latest ruler in the Bamoun Dynasty, has established a school in the palace built by his grandfather, in which schoolchildren are once again learning the Bamum script developed by Ibrahim Njoya.

The book is full of secrets and unknown alphabets. As a big fan of Indonesia and Balinese language/script i am happy that each small chapter of the book is separated by Balinese OM sign.

This book is must not only to linguists, polyglots, language maniacs. No, we all must understand that after several thousand years of writing, having approximately 7000 languages and only 130-150 scripts, we all are or can be endangered and simply vanish.

I thank TIM BROOKES for his invaluable work and i am happy that there are such wonderful people on the planet. We are still not lost, people.

And, read the book. Enjoy every page. It's really very enjoyable.

Endangered languages in Europe. In Asia, there are many more... http://www.endangeredlanguages.com